La plus grande fête de l'escargot de Bourgogne.

32th snail festival

The small French town of Digoin is transformed into the capital of the Burgundy snail for 3 days every year.

A few details about our festival:

For these three days in Digoin, we rediscover the spirit of the rural and local festivals, with the addition of the fun fair and the flea market.

Thanks to goodwill and the flawless organisation, in August 2022 we served more than 6000 meals, as well as extra plates of a dozen snails, a total of more than 100,000 snails.

Let us tell you about:

- The preparation.

- Our festival and its snails.

- The entertainment.

- Dates, times and travel information.

The preparation.

As you may imagine, the organisation of a festival on this scale in the middle of town is a long-term job. We begin to prepare the food and the marquees ten days before the first sitting.

On the esplanade, in front of the music school, we set out tables and chairs for more than 1600 people and a dance floor.

All the preparation of the meal trays and of the ingredients for the stuffing is done in our kitchen by members of the committee.

The blending of the flavoured butter is undertaken by Monsieur Dorey, a fine food producer here in Digoin. He also provides the fresh produce.

As you can see in this photo, our members prepare the 2000 snails before each meal.

And it is an enormous task. But good humour prevails.

And now it is time to turn to the festival.

The Snail Festival.

The festival takes place every year the first weekend of August. We offer you a full meal for only 21 euros including:

Salad

Cold meats

A dozen snails

Cheese

Fruit tart

(An alternative is possible for those who do not like our little horned creatures).

As you can see, the tables are full and many people have travelled a long way to taste our snails.

We are pleased to welcome every year a delegation of our friends from Gerolstein in Germany http://www.gerolstein.de/ (the site is in German), We also have tourists from all over France and from abroad. In 2022 English, Italian and American visitors as well as Australians who travelled the furthest and who return every year. And for the first time- a Chinese reporter and a Japanese group who took photographs of everything. A snail festival in Japan soon? Why not?

We cook the snails on stoneware dishes made in Digoin, which retain the heat for longer.

We serve meals Saturday evening, Sunday midday and evening, Monday midday and evening.

Unique to our festival and of interest to many people is our collection of bottles with a decorative design which changes every year.

To our knowledge we alone hold the complete collection- come and discover it. You will be able to take away your 2023 bottle from the next festival.

Come and enjoy yourself at the festival.

Entertainment, for your enjoyment.

-For the duration of the festival the Place de la République will be home to the fairground attractions for young and old.

-On Saturday and Sunday evening, you will be able to admire the splendid fireworks above the canal.

Entertainment supplied by Jacques Pommier and his team at all meal times.

You will have the opportunity to hear our song interpreted by:

The President of the Republic, it is our president’s surname.

Dates, Times plus Travel Details

It is time to come and join us again.

When will the 2023 festival take place:

Saturday 5 August from 7 pm: meals with entertainment, Fireworks .

Sunday 6 August from 12 noon: meals with entertainment.

Sunday 6 August from 7 pm: meals with entertainment, Fireworks.

Monday 7 August from 12 noon: meals with entertainment.

Monday 7 August from 7 pm: meals with entertainment.

The fun fair will be open for the duration of the festival.

How come in Digoin :

information :

Office de Tourisme Intercommunal Digoin Val de Loire

21 rue Nationale - 71160 DIGOIN

Tél. : +33(0)3 85 53 00 81

E-mail : ot-digoin@legrandcharolais.fr